Page 65 - THE ARMENIAN CHURCH_Neat

66 The Armenian Church

Hierarchical Sees
The Armenian Church comprises four
Hierarchical Sees: two Catholicosates and
two Patriarchates. This rather strange situa-
tion is due to historical circumstances.
− The Catholicosate of all Armenians or
Holy See of St. Etchmiadzin. The Catholico-
sate, where the catholicos resides, is the
spiritual and administrative headquarters of
the Armenian Church. As Patriarch M. Or-
manian, a noted historian of the Armenian
Church rightly points out, the Catholicosate
has never derived its designation from any
fixed place of residence and, irrespective of
its location, it has always been called the
1
Catholicosate of all Armenians. However,
for different reasons, the Catholicosate has
been associated with a locality, although its
jurisdiction and authority have extended well
beyond that locality. After the emergence
of two Catholicosates within the Armenian
Church, because St. Etchmiadzin is the site
of the original seat of the Catholicosate, the
Catholicosate of all Armenians was also
referred to as the Holy See of St. Etchmiad-
zin, the Mother See, or the Catholicosate
of St. Etchmiadzin. Likewise, because of its
long existence in Sis, Cilicia, the Catholicosate
of the Great House of Cilicia is sometimes
called the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia,
the Catholicosate of all Armenians of Cilicia,
or the Catholicosate of Sis.